The Titan War

It comes. On death's wings from the outer dark, from the black between galaxies. The Destroyer, the Burner of Worlds, the King of Terror. In its shadow, titans of a lost age will rise and reclaim the world they once ruled.

From the east, the Uncrowned King rises from his slumber. Caring not for us at his feet, he will give battle to the Terror, and only one will walk away from it. The Age of Ponies will fall in the shadow of waring titans.

From a pamphlet at the site of a mass suicide, discovered by the Royal Guard two weeks before the Fall of Canterlot.

***

"I remember. I remember clearly where I was the night it came to our world. Every one of those who lived to tell about it will tell you to the second where they were when it came.

At the time, we didn't know any better what it meant. Maybe if we had, maybe if we had done something, none of this would have come to pass. I want to believe that. But I can't."

Princess Twilight Sparkle, on the fifth anniversary of the Battle of Manehatten.

***

Normally at this time of night, most of Ponyville was asleep or at home. Except for the occasional night owl or drunk on a late-night bar hop, the streets of the small town were usually deserted.

Tonight was an exception, an event playing out across many towns and cities across Equestria at that moment.

It seemed that all of Ponville's residents had gathered outside to watch the meteor come across the sky. So crowded did the Town Square become, that Princess Twilight even opened up the balcony of the Friendship Castle for as many as it could hold.

Twilight hoped that her structural analysis had been right with how many ponies the balcony could hold. She did not need that on her conscious on top of the recent events with Lord Tirek and the Battle of the Bands at Canterlot High.

She wished she had asked the Rainbooms if they had wanted to come and see it with everyone. They all had standing invitations to come and visit Equestria if they ever wanted too. The only caveat being that they told her ahead of time so she could be ready for them.

But they had a performance tonight, Sunset had explained, so they couldn't have made it even if Twilight had asked them. She made a note to make sure and fill them in on all that they had missed when she had the time.

As usual with a big gathering in Ponyville, Pinkie Pie had gone into overdrive to try and make enough snacks for everyone. As Twilight turned to look at the crowd at the foot of the castle, she could just see her pink friend bouncing happily along, making conversation with anyone she felt like.

Applejack and Sweet Apple Acres were also providing the freshest apples and baked apple goods they had for the town-wide party. With all the bits they were taking in, they would make a huge profit from tonight alone.

Twilight's gaze turned for a moment toward Canterlot. From this vantage point, she could just make out the Solar and Lunar Balconies. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had declared tonight a holiday in the capital, and from what she was hearing, it sounded like the whole city was watching the meteor pass.

The Weather Team had made sure Ponyville had a clear view as the meteor passed overhead. Cloudsdale had even sent extra help to make sure all could see it, as it had for every city and town in Equestria tonight.

It had been finally determined that it would indeed hit Equus, but where was something nopony could be sure of. The best guess was that it would hit in an unpopulated area. It was big enough that it would cause considerable damage to wherever it did hit, but not so large as to endanger all life on the planet.

Twilight and her friends meanwhile had some of the best seats in the house. No matter how much Twilight tried, ponies gave her a wide berth, so she and the girls still got the best seat on the castle balcony.

Rainbow Dash groaned as she floated lazily overhead of everypony else. "Where is it? Some of us have more important things to do on a Friday night you know?"

Applejack shot her a smug look. "Like what?"

Rainbow balked for a moment before responding. "Like literally anything else! I'm missing out on valuable sleep time here!"

"Like you do all the time anyway?" Rarity asked knowingly.

Rainbow growled in annoyance as the others chuckled. She turned to Twilight, busily adjusting her telescope a few steps away. "So when is this thing supposed to fly over anyway?"

Twilight took a moment before she responded. "Any time now. Our best guess is sometime after nine it would pass over us."

That seemed to shut the Pegasus up for the moment, as she soon went back to doing lazy laps around the castle. No one was really saying much, it was for Ponyville was something new. It never seemed to be quiet around the town. Especially for something like this.

Just when the nerves of every one were beginning to fray, Pinkie suddenly jumped up from the ground below and pointed to the North. "I see it!"

Following her hoof, ponies began to stump the ground in applause as the meteor soon came into sight, moving slower than anyone had expected it to be.

Twilight turned her telescope toward the celestial object, even as her notepad began to fill up with her own observations and theories. Several things were noticeable right away.

The meteor was indeed golden in color, darkening to a burnt red as it plowed through the atmosphere toward the south. It seemed to hiss an evil hiss as it passed over Ponyville. But most just thought they were just hearing things and paid it no mind.

"Where do you think it's going?" Spike asked.

Twilight shook her head. "I'm not sure. There's not much out that way past Appleloosa, and I'm sure that it's heading in that direction. I don't think it'll hit the town, but they'll probably have the best view of whatever it does it."

Applejack frowned. She didn't like the sound of that. She had friends and family down there. She hoped they would be alright.

The meteor soon passed out of visual range for most of the ponies on the ground. Most of the Pegasi flew as high as they could so they could watch it a little longer, but soon even they lost sight of it.

Twilight thanked her lucky stars that her dad, Night Light, was the Royal Astronomer, and so was able to get his daughter a telescope that was second only to the one the Royal Observatory held. And while the young princess hated using how well connected her family was, or even her own connections she held in Equestria's government as a princess, for once she didn't mind.

For a while, longer, as the crowds below began to thin, and the ponies around her chattered about this and that, Twilight was able to still keep track of the meteor, until it too passed out of sight of her telescope. But just before she turned it off for the night, Twilight saw a very faint light, as the meteor finally hit somewhere far to the south.

There was little else she could do at the moment, however. Her notes were filled with various theories and ideas she had of where it had come from, why it had hit Equus at all, and why it was golden when no other meteor she had known of was.

For now, they would wait. Twilight would send them to her father in the morning, to go along with all that was coming in for the Royal Observatory. She didn't know how much help she could be. But that wouldn't stop her, she thought with a smile, as she joined her friends.

***

Far to the east, in the deepest and most unexplored waters of Eternities Crossing, something awoke from a long slumber. Its eyes hardened as it felt something new in the world. Something that had no right to be there.

Something it knew all too well. And while it cared little for the annoying nats that now infested the planet, they had no idea of what was soon to come. But he did, and he would not let it happen again.

Shaking off the last vestiges of sleep, he heaved his body into the water and began the long swim to the surface, pausing only a moment to look at the human skeleton and the long since corroded bomb he was still holding, sitting on the same platform that he had been.